


There was just something about you

by Mackattack563



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-26 07:24:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6229102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mackattack563/pseuds/Mackattack563
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak come from different worlds. He is the most popular teenager in school, set to inherit a multibillion dollar company and she is the quiet but brilliant girl who dreams of getting a scholarship to MIT. But when Oliver faces family and company drama, she is the only one to see through his facade. As their worlds merge, they work together to save Queen Consolidated. But as feelings develop, questions emerge about how different they are and if these feelings are real or the weight of the situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We're not our masks

**Author's Note:**

> I have never been a big or good writer, but during this hiatus I decided to try it out. Olicity is my OTP and they are what really inspired it. I wanted to write something as original as possible, but it seems that every imaginable story has been told. This is not betaed because I didn't know if anyone would end up reading it or even liking it so I apologize for any mistakes. 
> 
> I do not own any of these characters.

 

Being one of the richest teenagers in starling, scratch that, the country, always came with its advantages. Oliver was the most popular kid in school. He had the best parties, the best friends, the best car, and the hottest girlfriend. He was attractive with his honey blond short hair, his charming smile, bronzed skin and - thanks to his personal trainer - his sinewy and brawny build. People that worshiped the ground he walked on constantly surrounded him. Of course it also helped that he could drop ten grand without batting an eye or arrange for a private jet to take him to his families private island for a weekend get away. To be honest, people were constantly amazed that he wasn’t quiet as bratty as his best friend Tommy, who mirrored Oliver’s looks, wealth and charm. Tommy was the playboy that everyone expected out of Oliver.

 

So on the outside looking in, Oliver Queen had the perfect life. But on the inside, he felt empty for as long as he could remember. Sure, he was never left for wanting anything, at least not in a material sense, but he knew there had to be more. But who was he to complain? His life was far better than most people in the world, so from a young age he wore a mask. A mask that covered his internal struggle. A mask he perfected and no one ever saw past his façade.

 

Until her.

 

Felicity Smoak was, on the surface, an average girl. She had box #112 golden blonde hair called “sunshine”, took the bus to school (her mom didn’t own a car and they took the bus everywhere or got rides from friends), sat in the back of the class, and wore glasses. What set Felicity apart form everyone else, was that she was absolutely brilliant. As a 15 year old "sophomore" she was taking all senior classes and was well on her way to graduating 2 year early. Most of her friends we like her too. Bright. But where she was a certifiable genius across the board, her friends had their specialties. Barry excelled in chemistry, but wanted to become a doctor like his father. Caitlin loved biology and also wanted to be a doctor as well, but more in regards to research than practice. Cisco’s talent was in physics and mathematics and dreamed of becoming an electrical and mechanical engineer. These 3 brilliant individuals were some of the most caring and loyal friends Felicity could ever imagine having. They didn’t treat her like she was 16, but that wasn’t too surprising because, being as smart as she was as well as an only child, she was always surrounded my adults and thus very mature for her age. She was an old soul, despite her penchant for computers and technology.

 

So yes, Felicity was truly anything BUT average, but this was still high school. Being smart was not cool. So Felicity kept to herself, sat in the back of the classes, worked independently on projects, and often didn’t raise her hand to talk. She had no interest in the feigned friendships that would undoubtedly arise when someone just wanted to use her in order to get a good grade.

 

 

 

* * *

It was the first week of December when a massive storm hit starling. The snow was covering the city in an alarmingly fast rate. Everyone expected school and work to be canceled the next day. When felicity woke up that morning, to hear the phone ringing. When she looked outside and saw the snow Felicity’s spirit dropped. She realized that it was probably the school calling to cancel classes for the day. And even though most high school students would be elated at this news, Felicity loved school and was already in mourning that it was cancelled.

 

As Felicity exited her room, which opened to the kitchen she was able to make out a surprisingly hopeful greeting from her mother “Morning sweetheart”.

 

“Morning Mom” Felicity creased her eyebrows together at her mothers tone. “That was the school wasn’t it? School is canceled isn’t it?” The doleful tone in felicity’s voice was unmistakable.

Knowing her daughters love for school she was happy to reveal that it wasn’t. But that didn’t mean that Donna couldn’t have some fun either “Yes, that was the school” the older women said

 

Felicity dropped her head to the table and began pounding it against the granite top. On top of school getting canceled, judging by her mother’s sweatpants rather than her typical attire she wore to work that often involved a tight, short and sparkly dress, it was clear that her mother’s work shift had also been canceled. _Great_ Felicity thought. It wasn’t that Felicity didn’t like spending time with her mother; it was just that Felicity and her mother had very different interests. They could never connect on a deeper level like she once had with her father. And though she always wanted to spend more time with Donna, Felicity preferred that this time occurred in shorter session rather than a full day. Similarly, Felicity often tried to have a means to escape whenever her mother regressed back to “Vegas mode” and wanted Felicity to marry rich and fawn after the Oliver Queen’s, Tommy Merlin's and Carter Hall’s of the city. So being trapped in the house with Donna for the whole day, with no foreseeable means of escape, was less than ideal.

 

Then Felicity heard her mother giggle, “The school was calling to tell us that the bus will be running late today and you will be tardy to school, which is still on” Donna continued with a smile.

 

Felicity didn’t try to hide her sudden mood change. So with a smile Felicity jumped out of her chair and returned to her room to get ready for school.

 

When Felicity finally arrived at school she was 15 minutes late to her first class, AP Physics. As one of the few kids who didn’t own their own car, or have a personal chauffer, most of the class had already arrived. So she and a girl named Sara Lance, whose father was a blue collared cop, walked in late to class together. Felicity was surprised that Sara’s older sister Laurel wasn’t on the bus. But as soon as Felicity finished that thought she realized that Laurel had probably stayed at her boyfriend, Oliver Queen’s house the night before and Oliver’s chaffer dropped the couple off at school.

 

It never really bothered Felicity that she was constantly surrounded by the idle rich and famous, but that didn’t mean she wanted her ordinary up bringing on display. So as she and Sara walked into class late, she felt as if she had a sign on her neck that said, “working class” on it. To make matters worse, Mr. Bean told them that he had just assigned a partner project and that by the process of elimination, she was partners with Sara. Felicity, who had previously been so excited for school, was now crestfallen.

She looked over at Caitlin with a dejected look to see her friend mouth “ _I’m sorry”_. Felicity tightened her lips into a smile to silently tell Caitlin that it was okay.

 

 

As Felicity plopped down into the only open lab table, Sara followed her lead.

 

Sara then extended her hand to Felicity, smiling and said, “Hi. I’m Sara”

 

Without missing a beat Felicity responds, “Oh I know who you are. Your Sara, Sara Lance, you’re a Lance. Your father is a cop, your sister, Laurel, Gorgeous Laurel, is the most popular girl in school. You of course, are also very popular…NOT because your sister is Laurel… that’s not what I mean… You’re popular because you’re pretty and athletic, and I’m sure because you’re nice and people respect you. I mean, you would have been named captain of both the lacrosse and field hockey team as a junior if that wasn’t the case…”

 _Of course this was happening_. Even at 15 Felicity still can’t control her babbles.

“Oh God. I sound like a total stalker. I’m not. I mean, I’m not a stalker, I just…well when you’re as popular as you are, people talk. I don’t. Of course. Because I don’t know you. But I can’t help what I hear. I mean I guess I could. I could walk around with earplugs in, but then I couldn’t hear the teachers or learn anything and I like learning and Oh my god. I am still talking. I’m going to stop now in 3, 2, 1”. Felicity doesn’t need to see a reflection to know that her face is as red as a stop sign. God Felicity. _For the love of all that is Google, this is why you don’t talk to people other than your mother, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco. You can’t control yourself_ she castigated herself.

 

Felicity doesn’t dare to look at Sara but is surprised to hear Sara giggle and say “Your cute. I like you”. When Felicity turns her head she see two dimpled cheeks framing Sara’s perfectly straight and white smile. Felicity wonders what it would be like to so pretty, then she realizes she never introduced herself. After talking a deep breath to try and rid herself of her blush she says “Oh. I’m felicity by the way”.

 

As they turn their attention back to the teacher who is going over the project Felicity’s mind begins to circle back to her social faux pas. _God. It took me less than 10 seconds for me to embarrass myself. Why oh why do I have constant foot in mouth syndrome? Well, at least now it will be official. Felicity smoak, the panda flat, ponytail and non ironic hipster glasses-but real nerdy and necessary to see glasses- wearing sophomore is a complete and total freak. Sure, Sara seems nice, but if I were her I would complain to all my friends about the freak I was partnered with too. Ugh. But she will probably tell her sister because, well Laurel is her sister. Then I will have two grades of popular girls who will know she is a freak. Laurel will tell the senior class and Sara will tell the Junior class. Maybe if I offer to do the project all myself and use my brains to bribe Sara to not tell anyone about the freak that is Felicity Smoak, I can escape high school unscathed..._

_Wait. Back up. Sara is junior, what is she even doing in this class?_

Felicity hears a chuckle next to her and pales as she becomes aware of that fact that once again, what she thought was a conversation to herself, had been actually said out loud. Felicity froze not knowing exactly how much of her internal monolog found its way out of her mouth. When she sees Sara’s smile grow, Felicity becomes conscious that once gain, her thoughts had become words. Her hand slaps her mouth shut as to not let it happen again. As she tilts her head to face sara, Felicity lifts both eyebrows silently pleading with sara to have mercy on her.

 

After a couple of seconds of staring, no, analyzing Felicity’s face with an intrigued look, Sara turns her attention back to Mr. Bean. As soon as Felicity thinks Sara has let her off the hook or that Sara heard her mumbling but couldn’t actually understand what Felicity had said, Sara leans to her left closing the gap between her and Felicity. “You can’t bribe me to keep quiet with your brain because I have my own thank you very much. I, like you, also skipped ahead. But don’t worry, I wont tell if you won’t” Sara responds while still giving her full attention to Mr. Bean. As she returns to her previous sitting position Felicity sees the left side of Sara’s mouth tick up into a smirk and what thinks was a wink.

 

Felicity and Sara did not talk for the rest of class. When class ended both Felicity and Sara started to pack up their bags. Sara lifted her head up and said “I have workouts every day after school, is it possible to meet this weekend? I know the project isn’t due for 2 weeks before we leave for holiday, but I want to get a start on it” Felicity nodded enthusiastically in response, adding “Yeah. This weekend is great".

“Awesome, here is my number”. Sara hands the piece of paper to Felicity and walks to her next class.

 

_Wow. Today did not go as Felicity expected._

 

* * *

 

When lunch came, Felicity went to the table she had lunch at every day. As she sat down with her food she was in the process of asking Barry how his morning went when she was interrupted,

 

“Felicity I am sooo sorry. I didn’t think you were coming. Besides you normally work on your own anyway. Which was always perfect because we had an odd number of students. But now that Cisco moved out of class to take mechanical engineering classes at Starling University we have an even number again and had to pair up. Mr. Bean made us choose from who was in the class because he thought it would be easiest to explain the project to the people who weren’t there at another time so expectations were clear. So then when he had to choose and you weren’t there…I just…well then I was asked and I just said yes. ”

 

“Caitlin stop. First off, that was a Felicity Smoak level babble so I can see that you are really sorry. Secondly, you don’t need to apologize. Its fine. So who is your partner anyway?”

 

“Well Ronnie normally partners with sara so when she wasn’t there and since I normally partnered with Cisco, we were both partner-less and he asked me.”

 

“YOUR PARTNER IS RONNIE? Oh Caitlin that is so awesome! Stop apologizing so we can start planning the epic love story that is going to blossom out of this project!”

 

Despite Felicity’s initial disappointment that she wasn’t partnered with Caitlin, she was over the moon happy for her friend. Felicity’s absence gave Caitlin the opportunity to pair up with the boy Caitlin has been crushing on since the 1st grade.


	2. Im scared of what would happen if I let myself be oliver queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver finally enters the story

 

That weekend, Felicity and Sara make plans to start working on their project for class. Saturday at noon Felicity arrives at the Lance household. Felicity was soon realizing that she really liked the younger Lance sister. Sara was kind, funny and very smart. She had plenty of ideas about the project and wanted to work on it with Felicity. The two of them were so immersed in their work that they didn’t even realized how much time had passed. At 4pm the pair decide to take a break and go to the kitchen to grab a snack.

 

SLAM. The jarring sound of the front door closing made Felicity jump off her stool she had previously occupied at the kitchen table. They were clearly no longer alone in the house.

 

“Laurel. Come on. I don’t know why you are mad at me. What did I do?” An exasperated and low voice pleaded

“WHAT?! You don’t know why did? ARE YOU KIDDING ME OLIVER?! Its what you didn’t do! Where have you been lately both physically and emotionally?

“Laurel I’m sorry I have just had to deal with some things”

“You’re cheating on me aren’t you?” Laurel responded more as a statement that a question.

 

Felicity looked over at Sara who just rolled her eyes. Sara doesn’t seem remotely surprised at this conversation, hinting to Felicity that they fight a lot. Sure felicity has heard rumors that Oliver was unfaithful, but since she doesn’t actually know him, she she only took them for what they were, rumors.

 

“How could you even ask me that?” Felicity hears the hurt in Oliver’s voice, but soon realizes that laurel doesn’t.

 

She hears stomping and what Felicity assumes to be Laurel going to her room. A second set of steps begin, but only after Felicity sees streak of movement across the room does she see that Sara is off her stool and going to the room Laurel just departed. Not knowing what else to do, Felicity follows.

 

“Oliver don’t” Sara begins, “Don’t follower her. She needs time to cool off.”

 

The shock on Oliver’s face that he and laurel was not alone is apparent. “I uh didn’t realize anyone else was home”. Sara points to the books spread out of the floor. His body slumps forward. “I can’t believe she thinks I am cheating on her”

 

“Well, where have you been lately?” Felicity is now confronted with the face that was likely parted with his hurt voice earlier during his confrontation with Laurel. _He doesn’t look like the cold hearted cheating bastard that everyone makes him out to be. But then again, she didn’t really **know** Oliver. In fact, this is the closest she has ever been to him._

 

Oliver looks down at his face and he shuffles his weight repeatedly from his right foot to his left. He debates what he should do. _They can’t find out. That would be worse than them thinking I’m a cheater_ he ultimately decides.

 

When he raises his head back up to look at Sara the hurt on his face has disappeared and is replaced by an expression that is harder for Felicity to read. If she had to describe it, she would label the expression as the “lost puppy face”.

 

Then he shifts his attention.

 

Oliver finds himself still recovering from the accusation Laurel laid out when Sara enters the room. As he steps towards the stairs to follow Laurel, Sara tell him to stop. Then she follows suit as she also accuses him of cheating. _Why does my girlfriend and her sister jump to the conclusion that I am cheating?_ He hides his hurt by looking at the floor. Once he placates his emotions and the expression on his face he raises his head to look back at Sara. Only then does he notice a 3rd person in the room. A petite blonde he doesn’t recognize. As he is trying to place her, their eyes lock, and he feels like he was just hit by a truck. The doubt he sees in her face is vastly different than the doubt he sees in Laurel and Sara’s face. No. This blonde doubt is doubt their accusation. She isn’t looking at him like he is a cheater, she is looking at him with compassion. She is seeing through his façade, she is seeing him. He squints his eyes one more time as he tries to figure our who the hell this girl is but when he comes up empty handed he spins on his heels and leaves through the door he entered.

 

 

 

* * *

 

Later that evening…

 

Felicity decided to visit her mom at work that night. In order to continue to bring money in and pay for the house they live in, her mom often works night shifts as a cocktail waitress at the high end hotel in town. The hotel is nefariously known as the place where men go to cheat on their wife’s and girlfriend’s with other women. Although not the most respectable place, it is for these reasons that the guests are magnificent tippers. It is not uncommon for Felicity to see familiar faces (the mayors son, local athletes and so on) at the hotel when she visits her mother, but she did not expect to see his face.

 

Felicity does a double take because she can’t believe what she is seeing. Oliver Queen is here. She watches him intently to see him lean over the front desk and say something to the man sitting down at the computer. A few seconds later the man is giving Oliver a key card to a room. Felicity knows Laurel isn’t the one meeting him. Even if she and Sara hadn’t overheard the fight they had earlier, Sara had been talking about a party that her and laurel were going to at tommy’s house that night. She said that she could already predict laurels behavior. Laurel would drink and flirt with a bunch of guys in an effort to show Oliver what a mistake he made. When Felicity asked what Sara would do, she said she just liked to play drinking games with her friend Nyssa. So what Felicity was seeing that moment was the nail in whatever coffin of optimism she had in Oliver Queen.

No. The Lance sister are right, he was a cheater.

 

Felicity begins to chastise herself, _Well. Round of applause to Oliver freaking Queen who made her think that he wasn’t a cheater. And here I thought I was pretty good at reading the bullshit cheaters feed from all of mom’s past lowlife boyfriends. But No. She was fooled. Clearly what ever she saw in him was just his notorious charm. She thought she saw something in him, that he was more than a cheater. But the rumors are true._

 

As Oliver stood upright from the counter he looked around to see if anyone was watching them. Felicity was too slow to react and for the second time today his piercing gaze fell upon her. Felicity immediately saw his recognition of her behind those stormy blue eyes. And once again she began to doubt everything that she was seeing. Before she knows it he is turning and forcefully striding towards the elevators.

Knowing it was the worse idea in all of time and space, _god even in her thoughts she makes Dr Who references_ , she gets up from her seat and follows him.

 

“Sweetheart, where are you going? She hears her mom ask and she continues to follow him.

 

She notices that he gets on the private elevator or the penthouse suite. The most expensive room in the already astronomically expensive hotel. Because she still has so many questions and not enough answers, she continues to look for information. After hacking, no- sharing, the hotel’s network she is able to see the guest list. The penthouse suite is currently 3 weeks into a month long reservation for an Isabelle Roshev. _Well I have snooped this far might as well continue_ she thought. So she sets on to determine who this women is. It doesn’t take much searching as she soon finds that ms roshev is an employee at the Russian branch of Queen Consolidated, Oliver’s family company. Admitting to herself that even this is too much evidence to overlook despite a “gut feeling” she sighs with disappointment. She watches the elevator the next hour before she finally leaves to go home with her mom.

 

 

* * *

 

 

A week later she experienced déjà vu. Except instead of locking eyes across the room, Oliver physically runs into her at the hotel while she is visiting her mom. He had been looking at his phone and without looking up he mutters a quick apology.

Before she realizes the word left her mouth Felicity asks, “why?”

 

 

Still not glancing up from his phone he adds “For bumping into you”

 

“No. Why? Why are you here?” Felicity repeats. With a confused expression on his face he slowly raises his head to look at her. Immediately she sees his the recognition on his face. With wide eyes and an open mouth he stands frozen in place. Speechless. But she keeps on talking. “You know, Oliver, this is the second time I have seen you here and I just don’t know what else to attribute you presence here to.” _Why didn’t she, like everyone else assume the worst?_ Oliver asks himself, “But I can’t come up with another explanation so I am left with the only one that has provided. Why are you cheating on Laurel? If you don’t want to be with laurel, then don’t. If you do want to be with her then stop cheating. It can’t be that hard. I mean its not like I would know, I have never been in a serious relationship before, despite my moms best intentions….3, 2, 1” Now that Felicity has stopped herself from babbling and just watches him, waiting for an answer.

 

He closes his eyes. When he opens them again, she is once again confronted with that all too familiar look on his face. The hurt at the accusation. She doesn’t know why, but once again, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence she doesn’t think he is cheating on Laurel. Because both times she has seen him here, he might have been surprised to see her, but he never behaved in a way to display his guilt. So when he looked at him again, in this moment, tilting her head to the side, she knows she was right. He isn’t cheating, but something is wrong. He looks tired. His eyes are red and puffy. Underneath his eyes are dark circles indicating a lack of sleep. She continued to stare at him she realizes he looks aged, he looks far beyond his 18 years. Additionally, he is slouched over, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders and his clothes are wrinkled. As her gaze returns to his, she sees that lost look again. Her face softens as she begins to accept her awful blunder.

 

For the second time in less than a minute, the blonde girl surprises him when she utters “Oh frack. You aren’t cheating on her. But if you aren’t cheating on her, then answer my question, what are you doing here?”

 

Before he gets the chance to respond the elevator door opens and a brunette in a dress tighter than the ones even Donna wears walks out. She looks at Oliver and stating in the cruelest and emotionless tone Felicity has every heard “I’m returning to Russia tonight. Remind your father that if I am not promoted by the time I start showing, that those naked photos of him and me and the sonogram of our child will be released to the public. The pathetic man is probably too drunk to remember what is at stake so you should tell him again. If I’m not promoted then everyone will know, your mother, your dear sister thea, the world. Robert Queen the family man everyone knows and loves will be destroyed. His company will soon follow his demise”. If this women, who Felicity assumes is isabelle- no isaBITCH- sees Felicity standing there she doesn’t acknowledge her. With a whip of her hair in Oliver’s face, the devil in human form gets in the car that pulls up outside of the lobby.

 

“Wow. Everything about you just became so unbelievably clear”

 

Felicity looks over at Oliver who has once again closed his eyes. When he opens them he enters the still open elevator and swipes his card to take him to the penthouse. Before the doors finally close he looks at the blonde whose cherry painted lips are still parted in shock. He lips tighten and as he looks gazes into her eyes he sees, not pity, but once again that all to familiar look of understanding reflecting back at him. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments!  
> Like I said, this is my first experience writing. I am open to constructive criticism!  
> Do people want more or should I just let this story continue on in my head and not on paper?


	3. Righting his fathers wrongs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivers inner thoughts about the petite blonde that keeps popping up in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a thank you for all your support so far I wanted to post another chapter. I admit it is very short though. I have a little more written that I need to edit and maybe I will be able to post a second chapter today! I don't see the purpose of making you all wait if I have it written.

“FUCK” Oliver screams once he is safely alone in the elevator. When the doors open again he sees his father passed out on the floor, exactly like the she devil said. Two weeks ago Oliver looked up to his father. Oliver had spent his whole life trying to make Robert proud. But now the tables have turned. Now, Robert Queen is the last person alive Oliver wants to be. Since the day he caught his father red handed cheating on his mother, he only saw his father as a disappointment. Robert had been able to keep this affair well hidden as Oliver was the only one to know his secret. At the same time though, it seems like all of Starling knew of Roberts activities. That would explain why everyone always thought Oliver was a cheater. Despite how much Oliver what this to be the explanation, he knew it wasn't true. He knew this because, just like he did 2 weeks ago, everyone in starling thinks Robert Queen was the perfect husband, the perfect father

Oliver admits that his parents had been fighting for months, and within the house, many times unhappiness took over, but he never questioned if his parents still loved each other. He always thought the fighter were brought on by stress at QC or it seemed like his mother was the one to blame for these fights, not his father. With the knowledge he has now, he realizes that maybe the fighter are about his fathers indiscretion. Moira probably suspects something but doesn't have the heart to find the truth. So she continued on idolizing the man who deserved no respect.

 

As Oliver sneered at his drunkard father he questioned if maybe it was time for the city to know the truth about Robert Queen.   _Maybe, just maybe, the photos should be released. The world should know who Robert Queen really is. He is pathetic and he deserves to be embarrassed and humiliated._ But those thoughts were quickly fleeting as he realized the ripple effects of such an act. _His mother, Thea, QC, all of that would be ruined. No. No one else can find out about Robert. Or Isabelle. I have to make this go away._ Oliver realizes that he is on his own. His father has been drunk 24/7 since last week when Oliver walked in on them. As a result Oliver spent the last week doing everything his father normally did at QC. Laurel and his friends thought he was cheating because he wasn't spending time with them. But the truth was that when he wasn't at school Oliver spent every waking minute keeping his fathers company afloat. Because even an 18 year doing the CEOs work, is better than a drunk Robert queen doing it.

He considered going to his mother, but to get her help he would have to tell her about the affair. Oliver knew he couldn't break her heart. Thea is too young. Despite his constant debate to confess everything to Laurel, he knew he couldn’t do it. Oliver even questioned if Laurel would believe him. He also didn't know if they could overcome this point in their relationship. She was unknowingly  accusing him of the very thing he now hated most in the world. Of being exactly like his father. What bothered Oliver most was that it didn’t matter that he had never cheated before. She was so caught up in what she thought he was doing that she didn’t notice that Oliver was struggling to wake up every morning.

But Laurel wasn’t the only one who didn’t notice him struggling. No one saw it. Everyone bought his fake “happy façade” _._ And at first Oliver understood because he had perfected the “happy Oliver” façade for the past 18 years. But with everything going on in his life, he no longer had the strength to put his happy mask on. Yet for some reason, the closest people in his life didn't see the change, instead they assumed the worst in him. Maybe he was too good at faking happiness all those years that everyone around him assumed nothing could go wrong.That he had nothing to be unhappy about. So logically to them, what ever he was doing, however he was behaving, it was the result of his own issues and faults rather than anyone or anything else.

So with no one to believe him, no one to give him the benefit of the doubt, he knew he was alone. 

* * *

 

Deciding to leave Robert in his pathetic state on the floor instead of helping him back to the mansion as he did in the past, Oliver got back on the elevator. Oliver got out his phone to text his family a cover up story.

**Ollie: Had dinner with dad at the office. He said it going to be a long night. Im going to go over to Laurel's for a bit.**

**Thea: Tell her I said Hi!**

**Mom: Have fun son.**

 

Oliver could always rely on his families love for the lances as a coverup story for his absences while he is really at QC. He is been with Laurel so long that his parents have up on forbidding "sleep overs".

  

When the elevator doors open, Oliver looks around the lobby, but realizes he doesn't know what he is looking for. _Isabelle maybe? No, she left already. The press? No, the hotels security is too good for them to get within a mile of the place._

Then his eyes find their destination. He finds himself gazing into the increasingly familiar pool of blue. The moment their eyes meet he realizes that he was looking for her.The blonde who he first saw at the Lances. He flashes back to the look she gave him a week ago. Unlike Laurel, Sara, Tommy and everyone else in his life, this blonde didn’t look at him with disgust, she looked at him with understanding. 

Oliver remembers dismissing her look at the time. Thinking that it wasn't possible that saw his struggle. She was a stranger. If his friends hadn’t noticed, she couldn’t have right?

Looking at her now, he realizes that he was wrong. She saw it even back then. She saw through the façade. She saw through everything. She saw him. She saw his struggle.

She even said it earlier tonight. That she didn’t originally didn’t think he was a cheater. It was only once she saw him an extremely compromising position that she even considered. And immediately upon accusing him of it, she once again saw something that no one else in his life did and took it back. She realized there was something else, something out of his control and much large going on.

She was remarkable.

Questions begin to overwhelm him _. Who is this girl? What was her name again? Felicia? No. Pheobe? No._

Then he hears it. “Felicity”. _Felicity. Yes, that was it._ Felicity turned her head in the women who had called her name's direction but her eyes never leave his.

Neither of them moved for what seemed like hours. Somehow communicating perfectly across the room from each other, without speaking. They just kept staring into each other eyes.

He realized he should be worried that she knew the truth, but he wasn't. He had no concern about her disseminating the secret to anyone else. Besides, based on the past week he had a feeling that their paths would cross again. He just didn’t realize it would be in the last place he would expect.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would love comments and constructive criticism!


	4. We need to talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver finally have a conversation with words, rather than looks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

After everything that had been going on over the past couple of weeks Felicity was finally grateful to have the Physics project over and done with. It turns out that Sara was a fantastic partner who Felicity looked forward to working with again. To celebrate the conclusion of not only their project, but also the fall semester, Sara invited felicity to attend one of the infamous “popular kid” parties. Felicity was hesitant at first, but when Sara mentioned it was at the Queen’s mansion, she couldn’t help but give in. It had been a few days since her last encounter with Oliver and she wanted to offer her help. Felicity knew that she was on the shortlist of people who knew about his father affair and even though he probably had better options in terms of confidants, offering to help was the least she could do. After all, he was currently going through hell. So if she could find a way to lighten the weight on his shoulders that she deemed equivalent to the shrug of actually Greek god Atlas, she would feel better. 

When Felicity arrived at the Queen mansion, she was taken aback. She had never seen a residence as big as this one. She was surprised it didn’t have a moat. Heck, it was even bigger than the castle on her mother’s favorite British TV show ‘Downton Abbey’. 

Felicity looked quickly at her cell to see that Oliver’s phone GPS signal was still coming from the property. She admits how completely insane it was to isolate his signal and that she could easily be misinterpreted as an obsessed stalker, but the only reason she came was to talk to him. So she had to make sure he was going to be at his home, despite Thea throwing a party. 

Upon entering the opulent home Felicity looked around in awe. The foyer was adorned with expensive decorations. The 5 rooms connecting to the foyer all had multiple tables for drinking games set up. The only one she recognized was beer pong from the movies. One table involved slapping other people’s cups, another involved a crowd saying “Cheers Governor” and seemingly random actions occurring in a circle. A couple tables had card games, which Felicity thought she might recognize due to Donna’s work, but was left clueless. As Felicity made her way around the mansion she searches for a familiar face. Finally she saw Sara.  
“Felicity! I’m so glad you made it! Come here!” Sara screamed over the music. Sara, as she predicted was playing a drinking game with the girl she presumed to be Nyssa. When Felicity finally made her way through the crowd Sara gave her a very welcoming hug. Well. Looks like sara has been here awhile. I think she is a little tipsy. 

“You got the right Blondie, maybe you should replace us, give us a break or something… I’m Nyssa by the way… Sara has told me all about you.” Nyssa said with an easy smile. 

“Oh. Um. Maybe I just need to go to the bathroom first.” Felicity replied quickly. Proud that she actually thought of a plausible excuse to feed Nyssa, Felicity turned before she had the opportunity to speak out loud again. “I’ll be right back”

Following the signal towards the green dot that represented Oliver’s phone, Felicity began to distance herself from the main locale of the party. As she walked further into the western wing she pauses as she began to hear shouts.

“I can’t believe you are doing this to me. We have been dating for 3 years, THREE YEARS, and your breaking up with me? Is this because of whatever bimbo you have been cheating on me with the past couple of months?”

“Laurel. For the last time, I have not been cheating on you. I don’t know how many times I have to say it. I just have other things are going on in my life that need my attention” Oliver replied. He sounds exhausted, Felicity thought like he doesn’t even have energy to be upset at her anymore for thinking he is a cheater.

Then Felicity hear Laurel’s shrieking voice again, “Oh yeah Oliver? Like what? You don’t know if you want to go to Harvard or Princeton? Your sister adores you and loves you too much? Bullshit Oliver. Face it, your life is perfect and you are just looking for any way to fuck it up”

Gasping Felicity starts to shake her head. Laurel is clearly drunk and feeling hurt but how can she not see what’s right in front of her? How does she not see the pain he is undergoing? At that moment Felicity realizes that the fact that the argument even exists means that Oliver still hasn’t told Laurel about his father. Does anyone else know but me? Felicity fearfully asks herself.

“Laurel I am sorry that I have somehow hurt you. It was not my intention. But I am not and have not ever cheated on you. The fact that you don’t believe is yet another reason why we shouldn’t be together. We can’t stay together because of comfort or because that is what we think we should do, or because that is what everyone wants. It will only lead to more fighting and resentment. Besides, you don’t look at me the same way anymore. You don’t love me. You love tommy… Which is okay because he loves you too.” 

Felicity doesn’t have time to move before she hears the stomps and the door flies open, almost hitting her in the face. Seeing her immediately, Laurel throws Felicity a disgusted look. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she spits at Felicity.  
“Oh, I was just uh looking for the uh bathroom. But now I am lost. This house is so big and I have been walking around for 20 minutes trying to find either a bathroom or a person who knows there way around-”

Laurel rolls her reddened and swollen eyes.

“Congrats you found both a person who knows their fucking way around the house and the where the fucking bathroom is. It’s right there Nancy Drew” Laurel snarls point her finger across the hall to the closed door. Laurel looks one last time into Oliver’s room and storms off down the hallway. When Felicity brings her head back around as Laurel turns the corner around she sees that Oliver has made his way to the door and is staring at her. 

He simply nods his head and retreats deeper into his room. Felicity takes his gesture as permission to follow and closes the door behind her. 

His room was clean, though this is likely due to the maids, and covered in sports memorabilia. The theme was a deep green and gray. He had a large number of books in his room, although many of them didn’t seem to have moved any time in the recent past.   
Felicity didn’t know what she was expecting Oliver Queen’s room to look like, but this wasn’t it. Yet, as she looked around it also seemed entirely fitting. Ugh. Felicity, get it together. You don’t actually KNOW him. You can’t say- I mean think- these things like that.

After a few more minutes Felicity finally snaps back to reality. She shifts her gaze back to him only to see him still staring at her. To most it would seem that he was sizing her up but to her it seemed more like he was curious about her. Felicity looked at the floor and took a deep breath to prepare for the inevitable babble that is about to escape from her lips. When her eyes flicker back up, she sees the edge of his lips ticking upwards and his right eyebrow raise towards the ceiling. Despite never having an extend conversation with him, or even babbling in front of him, his response seems almost as if he knows she is about to babble too. 

“Hi. Sorry about that. It was not my intention… to overhear that. Although my intention was to come find you. So mission accomplished…I know we obviously haven’t spoken since I falsely accused you of being a cheating bastard when you’re not. Your father is. Oh my google. I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Not the cheating part, because well that part is true, but the bastard part because he is your father, 3, 2, 1…”

Surprised that a smile is still smeared across his face she continues, “But anyway, I wanted to talk to you. See if you needed any help with anything in terms of stopping isa-bitch, I call her that because well, for obvious reasons. I assume you know her name is Isabel right? I found it on the hotel serve that I hacked into it when I was interested in what you were doing at the hotel. What? You were a mystery to me and I hate mysteries. Okay back to my point, as I discretely mentioned, I hacked into the hotel, so I am good with computers. I can help take down isa-bitch if that is what you want. Or I can help with your night time activities…”

Oliver’s smile grows noticeably bigger and Felicity’s eyes widen in shock. 

“NO. NOO. No. Not like that. I mean, you probably have other girls to help you with that. Not because you’re a cheater, because you aren’t, especially now that you are single, you can’t be a cheater since you have no one to cheat on, but because you are incredibly hot so you probably have a list of girls to help you with that. What I mean was your night time activities in terms of QC” 

Now it was Oliver’s turn for his eyes to widen. “How did you…How did you know about that?”

Felicity chuckles, “Well considering the fact that your father seems to be drunk and constantly passed out, but yet the company seems to still be running as smoothly as ever paired with how tired you seem to always be, the wrinkly clothes, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out someone had replace him. But I mean I am a certifiable genius and since no one else in your life seems to have noticed what is going on with you, maybe I am wrong, maybe it does take a genius”.

They stare at each other for a moment before she adds,

“Oh I like computers. Computers are my thing. Not that I want a relationship with a computer. I mean, at least not a romantic relationship. I am not the female equivalent of Joaquin Pheonix in the movie Her” Ugh. She growls, not now Felicity. “Anyway I used my hacking skills a second time to track your phone GPS. Not to my surprise you confirmed my hypothesis by spending your nights at QC”.

When Oliver doesn’t respond, she begins to pale. The blood draining from her face “Oh god. I crossed so many lines and what I did was such a psychotic thing for me to do. I should be institutionalized. I am so sorry, please don’t report me. I promise I don’t normally do this. This was all in good faith. I only wanted to offer my support and assistance. But I’m going to leave now and you can forgot all about me. If you do want to report me though I understand, my name is Fel-”

“Felicity Smoak” he cuts her off. Shock registers on her face at the idea of him already knowing her name. They have never officially met before. Making her escape Felicity spins back to the door. As she reaches for the knob she hears him quietly add “Thank you”.  
Realizing his gratitude is at her offer to help him rather than to report her she stops. Releasing the knob she turns back around and is met with his crystal blue eyes.

Both of them are overcome with a sudden feeling of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments always motivate me to post another chapter quickly!


	5. Corporate Master of the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity starts to help out Oliver with his problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saint Paddys day! I wasn't originally going to post a chapter today, but decided to as a celebration to my heritage. I felt blessed by your responses to the last chapter. I really enjoyed writing that one, it was one of my favorites so far. I hope this one doesn't disappoint. 
> 
> I will try to post another one sometime this weekend.

 

 

Felicity and Oliver spent the remaining few days of winter break trying to find a way out of the mess that his father had made. They mostly talked on the phone and texted because meeting up somewhere would draw suspicion since Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak ran in different circles, despite Felicity’s recent friendship with Sara. If people saw them together in public, it would only bring on questions- or the assumption that Felicity was the home wrecker that ruined Oliver and Laurel’s perfect relationship.

 

Despite Felicity’s offer with helping him at QC, Oliver never brought it up again. He only asked for her to use her expertise to help him find a way to deal with Isabitch. So that’s what Felicity did. She hacked her way into bitch-a-bell’s life, discovering everything there was to know about the woman. What Felicity found did not seem particularly surprising.

 

Isabelle was head of a small department at the Russian Branch of QC. She seemed to be a very intelligent businesswoman, but was continually passed over for promotion. _No shocker there. I’m sure her charming personality has everything to do with that._ When Felicity mentioned her findings to Oliver he notes how she had devolved other means of getting a promotion, Robert.

 

Once school started back up, it was like nothing had changed; at least not within the schools brick walls. Felicity still had no reason to actually know Oliver so they didn’t interact much. She expected that they would simply smile or nod if they saw each other, but nothing beyond that.

 

When Felicity saw Oliver at school that first day, she was shocked at what she discovered. She could tell he was still drowning. Not physically, obviously, but metaphorically. The cruel hand Oliver had been dealt in the form of his jackass of a father was pulling him under water. He looked more fatigued than he ever had before. She hadn’t met up with him over break, but he always sounded okay when they talked on the phone or texted. She had no idea he was struggling so much.

 

So Felicity made a decision. She knew she was risking overstepping whatever guidelines had been laid out for their friendship, but there was no changing her mind.

* * *

 

Later that night, around 10 pm or so, Felicity walked into Robert Queen’s office at QC. Felicity has hacked into Oliver’s phone GPS so many times it was preprogrammed into her phone. So the trick wasn’t finding out where he was, so much as hacking into the QC server to get the blueprints to the building to find where Robert’s office was. Then she had to sneak into the building and up to the office undetected.

 

 _Oliver does it every night so it can’t be that hard_.

 

Felicity let out a sigh as she approached the dark building. Fortunately for her QC employee’s don’t stay late after work, well at least not this late. As Felicity looked up to the approximate location of Robert’s office, she saw no lights on anywhere in that vicinity. Or anywhere in the building for that matter. She was also surprised to see that QC didn’t employ any night watchmen, meaning she only needed to get into the building and she was golden.

 

_Well, I’m officially unimpressed that Oliver has done this every night without being discovered, he probably just took his dad’s ID card._

So after hacking into the serve she granted herself permission into the building and onto the private elevator to the CEO’s office.

 

If this is how Queen Consolidated protected its assets, Felicity was nervous for Oliver’s potential future career at the company.

 

When the elevator opened, Felicity anticipated the darkness that covered every corner of the room, as she hadn’t seen any lights on earlier. The only source of light in the room was the dim desk lamp that illuminated stakes of papers scattered across the desk and floor. Searching the room for Oliver, she was startled by a deep grumbling noise. Slowly turning to seek out the source of the sound, Felicity was confronted with a sound asleep Oliver Queen on the plush leather couch. It seemed Oliver’s nights without sleep had finally caught up on him.

 

Felicity noticed that, in this peaceful state, Oliver actually looked his age. The past couple weeks had clearly been taking its toll on him. He looked content, many even jovial. Knowing that this was the first time he had slept in awhile, Felicity chose not to wake him. He needed sleep more than she did.

 

All she needed was coffee.

 

Besides, it wasn’t like she was actually invited, so waking him would risk Oliver’s sleep deprived and stressed out temper to flare. Felicity had been on the receiving end of that temper one to many times over the phone and had to swiftly put him in his place before it got to out of hand. She knew that he wasn’t ever mad at her, but she was literally the only person in his life that he didn’t have to hide his emotions from. And although most of the time was a good thing, it also meant that if he was mad at anyone else in his life, he took it out on Felicity by snapping at her. And he always apologized rather quickly once he realized his err.

 

So no, Felicity was not going to wake him.

As she sauntered over to the desk, she tried to determine what he had been doing before falling asleep. It only took a couple of minutes before Felicity was encompassed in the work. It was her lucky day, or well Oliver’s lucky night, as he had been reviewing proposals for new projects within the Applied Sciences Division of the company. This was her expertise. Not only did she understand these proposals, she enjoyed reading them as they had incredible creativity and life changing applications for technology. As she read through them, she found a piece of paper and started enthusiastically taking notes, making comments and posing questions about each proposal. Before she knew it, it was morning and the sun was rising. She had completely lost track of time. As she glanced over she saw that Oliver was still asleep. She smiled to herself because she knew that he needed the sleep.

 

As Felicity is on her way out, she grabbed Oliver’s phone. She figured that he had not intended to sleep through the night and so he probably didn’t have an alarm set for the morning. By passing the lock setting, Felicity sets his phone to wake him in an hour so he could return to the mansion and change before heading back to school.

 

 

Oliver is startled awake to the sound of an alarm. As his eyes open, they seek out familiarity. _Oh. I’m still at QC... SHIT. I’M STILL AT QC. What time is it? Where is my phone? God. Can that fucking noise stop?_ As Oliver reaches for the phone he sees its only 6am. There was still plenty of time to get back to the house. _Wait, I didn’t set an alarm._ At that moment, Oliver sees a piece of paper on the ground next to where his phone had been laying. The long and curve handwriting was unfamiliar to him so he reached down to pick it up.

 

**O,**

**Don’t be mad. Be glad (don’t you even think about rolling your eyes at me because that rhymed). You clearly needed some rest. Comments about the proposals are on the desk. See you at school** **J**

**-F**

 

Pocketing the note as to not leave any trace of his and Felicity’s visit, Oliver leaves the office and heads back home. How he has gotten away with playing CEO for so long without being caught is beyond his comprehension. But he knows like it can’t last much longer. Thea told his mom that he broke up with Laurel so lately he has told his mother than he was crashing at Tommy’s to keep him company while his father is gone on business. When Tommy’s dad returns home next week he will need to find a better excuse. He can always sneak out after everyone goes to bed, but having to wait to go to the office would take away from the time he already doesn’t have enough of.

 

But maybe with an extra set of hands it will all work out.

 

* * *

 

Felicity had to admit, she only played CEO for one night and she could barely move, barely keep her eyes open. Any motivation she had for school that day was long forgotten. _I knew I should have gotten coffee to go._ Instead Felicity spends class trying to stay awake. Sara notices and eyes her all morning, but doesn’t actually say anything, just looks at her with concern. Catilin would have noticed, but she is too busy touching and silently flirting with Ronnie, to even glance in her direction. Ronnie and Cait started dating over break and Felicity couldn’t be happier for them. Besides, it just makes it so Felicity has one less person to lie to.

 

Felicity surprisingly makes it through the morning without falling asleep in any of her classes. When lunch rolled around, she already knew she would be by herself that day. Caitlin started eating with Ronnie. Cisco wouldn’t get back from his University class until 7th period and Barry is tutoring a girl named Iris that he has a crush on for years. Perfectly content being alone, and almost gleeful that she doesn’t need to use the energy to have a meaningful conversation, Felicity takes out her computer and starts adjusting the codes searching for more information on Isabelle. Felicity was so wrapped up in her searches she didn’t notice that someone had sat down next to her until she looked up from her computer a couple of minutes later.

 

To say she was surprised at the close vicinity of the man next to her would be an understatement.

 

“Hey” he says quieter than she would have expected from a confident man like Oliver Queen.

 

Not knowing what to expect Felicity responds with a sheepish, “Hi” while looking anywhere in the room but at him. When she finally gathers the courage to look at his face she sees a smile forming. Not the fake Oliver Queen smile, but a genuine smile. Slightly comforted by the fact that he isn’t going to start yelling at her she returns the grin.

 

 

Oliver takes a deep breath before adding, “You shouldn’t have come to QC…”

 

Irked at the fact that he won’t accept help, Felicity rebukes, “Oliver I know you don’t want me coming there, but have you looked in the mirror lately? I don’t know how you are even functioning, it was only one night and I can’t stay awake”

 

“Fe-li-ci-ty” he stops her, “Its not that I don’t want you there, its that QC is my problem, not yours. You’re are already helping me with Isabelle and it is not fair to ask you to help me with another. I am already so grateful with your help. So I just want to say thank you…so I brought you something”

 

He slides two cups over to her. “At first I got you a coffee, but then I realized I didn’t know if you even liked coffee, so I also brought tea. I don’t know how long you were there last night but from the amount of work you got done, I assume you were there a while so I figured you would need something to keep you awake”

 

“Oliver…you are a life savor” she utters as she reaches for the cup of coffee, “Although you really didn’t have to. I mean especially because we technically don’t know each other. Well I mean we do. But no one else knows that we do and it will look suspicious.”

 

“We might not have known each other a month ago Felicity, but you are the only person in my life right now that knows the hell I am going through. You’re my friend. You are the only person who saw that I was struggling and you didn’t even know me. I can’t go on pretending I don’t know you in public, I mean unless you don’t want to be seen with me…” Oliver says looking nervous.

 

“I don’t. I mean, I don’t care if I am seen with you in public. I just want to help in any way possible. You say that you feel bad for letting me help with QC because its not my problem, but then you are taking care of Isabelle and QC which are not your problems, they are your father’s. So I don’t mind helping. Besides, I don’t like mysteries remember? So I enjoy helping you with Isabelle because it is challenging my computer skills. And as far as QC goes, that stuff I find genuinely interesting, those proposals challenge me in a way school doesn’t” Felicity states with a determined tone.

 

For the second time in as many minutes Oliver puts his real smile back on his face. Felicity pretends not to note that she hasn’t seen him display that smile to anyone else in the past couple of weeks. Yet, twice today she was on the receiving end of it.

 

“Felicity Smoak you are remarkable” he voices as he sits down next to her.

 

Despite the compliment, Felicity doesn’t blush. Instead she twinkles with pride and a crooked smile, “Thanks for remarking on it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Comments make my day! I love hearing what you guys liked about the chapter (or disliked). I am always looking to improve!  
> Maybe I will be convinced to continue writing after this story is finished!


	6. I do know two things: You are not alone. And I believe in you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity discovers something about Isabelle and Oliver discovers his feelings for Felicity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite chapters to write thus far. A moment most of you have been waiting for happens in this chapter! I have been blown away by your responses for far, hope I don't disappoint!

Lunch is over before he realizes it. Oliver is no longer surprised at the comfort he feels with the babbling blonde in front of him. For the past 30 minutes he has just been staring at her wordlessly as she talked about her favorite proposals that she read last night. More than a couple of times Oliver had to remind her to speak in hushed tones as neither of them were suppose to know about these projects in the first place. But she was so excited about the “power cell” project in particular that she couldn’t help herself. When the bell rang  they rose to head off to their respective classes. As Felicity turned to walk away, Oliver reached out and grabbed her arm stopping her. As she turned back to look at him, he was overcome with nerves.

“So uh now that uh we are speaking in public, do you uh, I mean would you mind uh”

“Oliver, I’m the one who normally speaks in sentence fragments”

Smiling and feeling a little more at ease he continues, “Would you like to meet up in person today to deal with everything?”

Redding in the face, “Yes” Felicity responds with a grin that extends from here to ear 

“Okay. how about Jitters after school, say 4?”

 Looking at her feet Felicity responds, “Can we make it 430? I don’t have a car and sometimes the bus takes awhile…”

“Felicity…” she looks up with an embarrassed look, “You don’t have to take the bus. Remember? Your officially friends with the son of a billionaire, I have my pourse here at school. We can go the Jitters together”

Blushing again Felicity looks back down at the floor. If Oliver didn’t see her nod he wouldn’t have heart her quietly utter “sure” before she spun around and walked to class.

* * *

 

The drive to jitters had been staggeringly quiet considering the company. As he looks over to Felicity at a red light, he is met by her long wavy hair that she had worn down today. As he looks closer, however, he could see the reflection of her face in the widow. Recognizing the expression as contemplation with a hint of doubt on it he became worried.  

“What wrong?” he hesitantly asks

“Oh nothing. Not really. There is just a lot going on up here” she replies with her hands coming up to motion around her head

“Like what?”

“Isabelle, QC, you know”

 “Yeah but thats nothing new, you’re acting... different...quiet. What's changed?”

“Oh. Well uh, Us. NO. Not us because there is no us, I mean, how could there be? Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak? Yeah no, that’s unthinkable…”. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she corrects, “What I mean is our friendship has changed. I feel as if I know nothing about you. Which was fine when we had to pretend like we didn't actually know each other- it actually made it easier.  But now that we are public friends, it just feels different. I mean I don't expect to know every detail of your life because to be honest we are more like acquaintances, but-"

“Felicity, stop. You are not an acquaintance. I said it earlier but I will say it again. You are my friend. You know everything about me that is important right now. You know more than my best friend. What else do you want to know?”

“Wait. Really? Anything? You’ll tell me?”

“Why don’t you ask and see?”

“Hum. Well with free reign like that I am going to start with a hard one…most embarrassing moment. Go!”

With a smile, Oliver started to tell her about the time when he was 9 that he ran into his parent's highly respected investors _naked_ as they toured the mansion. It was the result of a perfectly timed dare by Tommy. As Felicity keeled over in laughter, he took a moment to really look at her and absorb the woman next to him, realization hit him like a ton of brinks.

He would do anything to make her laugh. Her laugh was the sweetest sound in the world and her beauty radiated from her. He might have said that she was his  friend, but he knew she was more. He didn’t know if a word existed to explain what she was. He trusted her inherently, in a way he never did with Laurel. She was his partner, his rock.

He didn’t know when he had developed these feelings, but he wanted more. He wanted her. No, not sexually. Well, yes sexually, because she was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. But he wanted more. He just wanted her to always to be in his life. She was so smart and kind and made him a better person. He felt lighter when he was with her. Thankful that, unlike the woman he clearly had feelings for, he was able to keep his thought inside his head. 

The rest of the drive to Jitters, Oliver and Felicity  went back and forth answering each other questions. Even though he felt he knew her pretty well, or at least the things that mattered, he enjoys learning more about where she came from. Her background is what made her, her. He loves learning the little details like that she built her first computer when she was 7 or that her natural hair color is brunette, as much as he loves learning about the life changing details, like her father abandoning her and her mom when she was 9.

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at Jitters, they focused more on work. They spent the first couple hours getting their homework out of the way. By the time they finished they still had 2 more hours before they could safely venture into QC without getting caught. Finishing her homework before Oliver, Felicity started reprogramming her searches on Isabelle and tried to fit all the pieces together. When Oliver finished he began by responding to Robert’s emails, which Felicity had hacked for him a couple of weeks ago.

Ever since his revelation in the car, Oliver hasn’t been able to keep himself from staring at her. He often loses himself in thoughts of how she came into his life and how it was chance that they met. _Where would he be with all of this if she hadn't decided to help me?_ Oliver regrets that she has only been in his life a short amount of time and is shameful for all the years he never noticed her. However, despite his remorse, he is just thankful that she found a way into his life.

“Oliver?” he hears her distractingly say, effectively pulling him out of his thoughts.

 He blushes as he realizes that, since he is already starting at her, he doesn’t have to redirect his attention. _How long was I staring?_ As he takes her in again, he realizes her attention is still on her computer and he hopes that she didn’t notice his excessive staring.

 “hmm?” he responds not trusting his own voice, hoping she doesn’t hear the tremble that was apparent even in his mumble.

“Why don’t you stop staring at me and start packing up so we can head to QC?” she asks nonchalantly.

Oliver is surprised when her realizes he doesn't care that she had caught him. He was done denying his feelings. So he packed up his computer and went up to the cash register ordering them each another coffee. Sure, his father had a top of the line coffee maker in his office, but Oliver liked buying it for her. It was one way he knew how to demonstrate his appreciation for her presence in his life.

 

* * *

 (Oliver POV)

 A week later...

Despite the amount of work that QC brought the two of them, Oliver always enjoyed spending his nights with her there. Being alone with each other brought a level of comfort that they couldn’t display anywhere else. Oliver continued to catch himself staring at Felicity, and with each minute detailed he learned about her, his affections grew. He never shared these observations because a) he didn’t want to seem creepy and b) he enjoyed knowing things about her that she might not even know about herself. For example, any food shaped like a square or circle, she eats in a circle, essentially turning it so she eats the outside portions first and spirals her way to the middle. He noticed how, when she started bringing clothes to change into for when they went to QC, she only brought a pair of sweatpants and not extra shirts. So he always laughed whenever he saw her sitting on the floor shoes kicked off to the side, in her nice blouse that belied her otherwise “lazy look”. If she were sitting at his father’s desk no one would even realize that she is dressed “unprofessionally” and a little part of his stomach jumped as he realizes that this might be the reason behind her quirk.

 

So as Oliver was caught up staring at his most recent discovery, how her nose scrunched up when she is putting the final pieces of her thoughts in place, he wasn’t as jostled by her sudden movement to stand up from behind the desk and high pitched squeal as he once might have been. At least before when he didn't stare at her as much.

 

“OLIVER!” The decibel in which Felicity spoke at was unheard previously by mankind, “I figured it out! I know how to take her down!” Stopping only for a second to glance over at him to check that he was paying attention she continued, “I have been thinking these past couple weeks that in the past, bitch-a-belle has done anything and everything to try and get promoted. And even though getting pregnant and using it as blackmail is a new level, I had this lingering feeling that something didn’t fit. From everything we have learned about her, she is a cold hearted bitch. So why would someone so power hungry let anything get in her way, even a kid?”

 

Slightly disappointed by something he didn't consider new he replied, “Unless that kid was the way for her to get power. Felicity we know this. We know she is….”

 

“No. no. Oliver. You don't understand. You’re not hearing me. Listen. She wouldn’t let a kid risk stopping her from gaining power…” seeing that Oliver would not be able to connect the dots himself she decided to assist him, “She would have ensured she couldn’t get pregnant years ago Oliver. With this new idea in mind, I set down a particular course of investigating and I was able to uncover something... I found that Isabelle traveled to central city 5 years ago under an alias to get a tubal ligation…”

 

“Huh?” Oliver uttered 

 

“Oh come on Oliver! Tubal ligation? tubes ties? No eggos traveling down the tubesto get preggos? She cant get pregnant. Or at least the chances of her being pregnant are very very small. Like atomic. Which most people might automatically think is big because of like the atomic bomb, but its actually like really small because atoms are very tiny. Basically, Oliver, I think she is faking her pregnancy…”

 

The moment he understood what she was finally saying he was overwhelmed with emotion. This brilliant, beautiful, remarkable woman in front of him had solved the biggest issue in his life. He didn’t deserve her help, but thank god for it. Thank god for her pushiness, her stubbornness, and for her drive to help him when no one else even noticed anything was even wrong.

When he brought her attention back to Felicity he realized she was still talking. He knew he didn’t really miss anything important, she had told him the big news, the amazing news. He knew she was mid babble and wasn’t going to stop any time soon, which he was okay with. His body, however, was not. His body wanted her to stop. Wanted to make her stop. Not because he didn’t love when she babbled, but because he loved it so much when she babbled. So before his mind had time to catch up with his actions he found himself standing next to her. As she looked up from her computer, he began to lean in.

He was so thankful to have her in his life. He didn’t know how to tell her, so the only thing he could do was show her. Up until this point he showed her by buying her multiple coffee's every day. But now, it wasn't enough.

It seemed that she had  not realized what he was doing because she continued her babble as he was leaning in. She probably just thought that he wanted to see what was on her computer.

It wasn’t until their lips made contact that she actually stopped talking.

Most people would describe the moment their lips touches as like coming home. Oliver didn’t want to make this comparison because it wouldn’t be right. Home to him couldn’t describe what this feeling encapsulated because home wasn’t anything like this. Home wasn’t something that made his worries, his fears, his hardships fall away from him. It wasn’t a cocoon of comfort, of security, of warmth. Home didn’t make him feel alive.

Maybe this was the feeling other people associated with their homes, but not him. His home was stiff, empty. 

So no, kissing her wasn't like coming home. This was so much better. This was Felicity. 

* * *

 

 

(Felicity POV)

 

Felicity knew she was setting a new record length for longest babble. But between the fatigue and the discovery of bitch-a-bells secret, it was unstoppable. Or at least that was what she thought.

 

“ …I mean I knew she was a heartless bitch but who fakes a pregnancy? She is complete dirt. No she is worse than dirt she is sewage, she is-”

 

Her babble stopped. But the way it had stopped was unexpected as an asteroid crashing into the earth and killing a bunch of dinosaurs. She had noticed when he stood next to her, but she had figured he just wanted to see the evidence of her discovery. Boy had she been wrong.

She hadn’t even had time to react before lips her crashing onto hers.

 At first Felicity didn’t respond. She didn’t know how to. Well, that’s not true. She did know how to, but she didn’t know how to respond to the fact that Oliver Queen was kissing her. But as his lips molded over hers, instinct kicked in. She began to move her lips in unison with his. As his tongue caressed her lower lip, it begged for entrance, and she quickly obliged. His lips were unexpectedly warm and moist given the try and cold weather outside. His hand came up to the side of her face and his thumb began to stroke her cheek. His touch was gentle and soft. She felt a purring sensation in her chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him closer so that every part of them was touching. His strong and muscular body pressed hard against hers. She didn't know how long they had been kissing, but even as it continued she couldn't wait to to this again.

  _No. Felicity. What’s wrong with you. You aren’t going to be able to kiss him again. Remember, you and him are unthinkable. He is just thanking you for helping him. He is caught up in the moment. Stop this before you end up getting hurt. He doesn't actually want you like that. This is a one time occurrence._

 

Despite her body’s protest, Felicity gathered all the effort she could manage to gently push him away from her. She looks into his eyes and finding no trace of his deep blue eyes because they were replaced by dilated pupils and pools of black. She quickly looked down, reddening at how caught up they had become. Embarrassed because she knows that he could never really want her like that, not outside of an emotion filled moment like they just had,  she works up the courage to speak.

Needing to get this out in one quick spurt of air she takes a deep breath, "Oliver, I um. That was a mistake. We just got caught up in the moment. I did just figure out a way to save your family's reputation and you just, um, thanked me. But no thanks is necessary, well not again at least. I um. I need to go… Now. Bye.”

As Felicity  grabbed her shoes and ran out of the room she though she heard Oliver call her name. Unable to face the reality of what happened yet, she didn't turn back. No, she needed to get home and process this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it happened! But maybe it didn't go the way you wanted? Let me know what you think! As always, comments or constructive feedback is accepted and encouraged!


	7. Someone that I could really care about

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver have a conversation, and are constantly thinking about the kiss, and what it could mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! So I think I have finally figured out how I want this work to end. After this chapter there will be two more chapters left and then an epilogue. Unless I suddenly get the inspiration to write a 3rd chapter before the epilogue.

The next day at school Oliver was eagerly waiting for lunch, as it was the only time during the school day that he saw Felicity. She had managed to run off on him last night before he had the chance to explain himself. To tell her that it wasn’t a mistake, that he had been wanting to do that for over a week, ever since he had discovered his feelings for her. He thought he felt something in the kiss, that life altering kiss, that indicated that she wanted something too. And after that life-altering kiss, he knew she felt something too. He had tried calling after her but could tell that she wasn’t ready to hear it yet, so he let her go. He decided to wait.

 

So when lunch came around he was looking forward to talking about it. When he walked into the cafeteria, he didn’t see Felicity sitting at her typical table. Oliver let out a huff and allowed his shoulder to slump forward. If she wasn’t here, it meant she wasn’t coming. He knows that he saw her perky ponytail in the hallway that morning, so he knows that she is at school. Her class was much closer to the lunchroom than his, so she always arrives before him. Realizing that Felicity might be avoiding him, he spins on his feet and sets off to his new destination.

 

Oliver didn’t have to wonder if she would be there as he pushed open the double glass doors to the library. She had never mentioned it being a hideout before, but if he knew Felicity, this is where she would be. Besides, its not like he frequents the library often so her figured that Felicity would think of it as the best place to avoid him.

 

He doesn’t see her at first, which makes sense because she wouldn’t be good at avoiding him if he could walk by at any moment and see her through the glass panels. Not really knowing why, he takes a left rather than a right and walks a couple book isles down. Looking to his left he is surprised to see a row of tables, but not surprised to see the babbling blonde that he has quickly developed feelings for.

 

Smiling to himself, Oliver makes his way down the isle. He notices that Felicity is wearing an outfit that he has seen her wear a couple different times before. It is a typical high school girl outfit consisting of dark wash jeans, and a white blouse with small blue polka dots. He hair is pulled back into her typical ponytail. It’s really nothing flashing or special, but this time she looks different in it than before. He doesn’t know if it’s because he finally stepped up and kissed her or if because he is somewhat confident that she feeling the same way about him, but she looks radiant.

 

As per usual the blonde woman is wrapped up in her laptop, oblivious to everything around her, so she doesn’t seem to notice him approaching. He thought that once he sat down he might draw her attention, but is proven wrong, as she doesn’t even flicker a glance in his direction. Taking a moment to stare at her adorably intense mode of concentration, he finally clears his throat and reaches out to touch her upper arm.

 

Jolting at the sudden sensation of touch breaking her concentration, Felicity’s head snaps to her right to look at Oliver. Before she has time to speak, he does, “Felicity I think we need to talk. About yesterday.”

 

“I agree” she counters, surprising Oliver. This time, however, she gets the jump on him before he can continue, “I have worked out a plan to deal with Isabelle for good, nasty pictures and all!” _Oh thank Google._ Felicity thinks to herself, _I’m, so glad I figured out a plan because now we can focus on that instead last night’s mistake. I don’t want to talk about that with him. No sir-e. Nope. Don’t want to see those sad eyes as he breaks my heart and agrees that it was a mistake._

 

Felicity’s full attention returned to the monitor after speaking, so she didn’t see the dejected look on Oliver’s face at her response. He was hoping to have a different conversation with her about yesterday, but he can tell she isn’t ready. Not yet. So he follows her lead and looks at her computer. The only comfort that is provided to him by this interaction is that he recognizes that he knows her well enough to see through her façade. She might be acting like it was nothing, but he knows he sees more underneath. He is seeing through her mask, like she once saw through his.

 

“Well since two high school students, obviously can’t go to Isabelle in Russia, we must lure here to us. So under the pretense that we are Robert, we will email her a first class ticket to the city telling her that upon her arrival a press conference will be held to announce her president of the Russian branch of QC. However, Robert will ask that the night before the press conference she meet him in their “usual spot” to discuss his role in the baby’s life. I think that arrogant bitch will let her pride overwhelm her and she won’t think anything of it. Little does she know that we will actually be in the hotel room waiting to confront her for the crook she is.” Felicity then goes on to explain the specifics of the plan about how to prove she isn’t pregnant and even how they can get rid of the photos.

 

“Okay do it” Oliver replies innately trusting any plan she comes up with. Even if he hadn’t thought that he was absolutely brilliant, which it was, he would have agreed to it because he didn’t have anything better.

 

Looking like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Felicity lifts her brows and gazes up at the ceiling “I might have possibly, already done it. Her flight comes in on Friday,” she quietly admits.

 

With a hearty chuckle he stands up giving her the time to process the other events of the night before and gets ready to leave.

 

“See you after school?” he asks, the hope in his voice very evident.

 

Trying to hide her ever reddening blush, she tilts her head down and pretends that it is part of a nod in response to his question. Felicity tilts her head down to hid her reddening face but tries to cover it up as a nod.

 

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he gives it a squeeze before twisting around to exit the library.

 

* * *

 

 

Over the next few days everything went back to normal. Well, as normal as possible considering they had kissed last weekend and that they were a few days away from confronting Isabelle.

 

Despite avoiding the topic of the kiss altogether, Oliver was somewhat relieved. Although he wanted to talk about it right away at first, he realized that he needed the time to figure out what he actually wanted to say. He knew his words needed to be perfect. They needed to be as perfect as she was. Oliver couldn’t just drop the typical line that Tommy might use. He couldn’t even let his actions tell her like he had last time because last time didn’t work. Last time she pulled away.

 

No. He needed to convince her that he could make her happy. That they were right. So he spent the next few days going over his speech in his head. He knew he couldn’t do it before everything happens with Isabelle, so he would just have to wait. But he would wait as long as it took, because she was worth it. Besides, it was probably for the better to wait, because even though he now knew what he wanted to say, he needed to gather the strength to say it.

                                                                                                            

Now that Felicity had figured out the problem with Isabelle, she and Oliver had a lot less to worry about. She still helped him at night but the workload had lightened. With less work, Felicity found her mind beginning to wander. Ever since Oliver had kissed her, she has had trouble not thinking about it. Especially now that she solved the mystery of Isabelle. She might not want to admit it to herself, but its possible that she solved how to deal with Isabelle so quickly and efficiently because she need time to process the kiss appropriately without distractions.

 

She couldn’t help it, but each time she thinks back to that moment, he bodies warms. She was glad that he wasn’t forcing her to talk about it but she didn’t know if that was for her benefit or for his. _Both probably._

 

So as Felicity’s mind wanders, she thinks back to a conversation she had with Caitlin a couple nights ago. It was the first time in about a week that they had time to really catch up on each other’s lives. Despite the rumors of Felicity being the homewrecker, Caitlin Caitlin believed Felicity when she told her that Oliver and he were just friends. Because even at that moment, despite the conversation occurring after the kiss, that’s what they were in her mind. Friends. Because Oliver Queen doesn’t like people like Felicity Smoak in that way. So, Felicity wasn’t ready to share the sudden change in affection that Oliver had shown, because it would just get Catilin all worked up over something that had occurred only because of an emotionally overwhelming moment. So instead of Felicity talking about her “relationship” she asked Caitlin some questions about her blossoming relationship with Ronnie, hoping it might shed some light.

 

Looking back on the conversation now, Felicity realized that she hadn’t actually listened to what Caitlin had said about Ronnie. Well, not entirely at least. Felicity remembers the basics, how every story began, but not the middle or end. No instead, after each beginning she began picturing similar moments that Felicity has spent with Oliver.

 

When Cailin talked about her and Ronnie’s short and slightly awkward first kiss, Felicity had been reliving her and Oliver’s earth shattering passionate first kiss.

 

When Cait talked about the small things Ronnie does to make her smile, Felicity pictured the coffee Oliver brings her. And the open and warm smile he directs only at her.

 

Looking back on her conversation with her friend, Felicity is forced to face the truth. She can no longer hide from her own feelings. She is falling for Oliver.

 

Her body spreads with warmth as she finally gives in to her feelings. But moments later, the warmth turn cold, frigid even. _How could I be so stupid?_ She castigates herself, _How could I fall for Oliver Queen? Rich, popular, attractive-oh so attractive, body of a Greek god- literal Greek god- Oliver Jonas Queen. He would never go for me, not outside of that emotion filled moment we had. Way to go Smoak. You just led yourself straight to heartbreak because once this Isabelle, Robert, QC hell storm is over, he will just go back to Laurel. Beautiful gorgeous Laurel. I can’t compete with Laurel! Laurel and Oliver are everyone’s favorite couple (literally everyone’s favorite couple, magazines had done polls on it! They even topped Prince William and Kate Middleton!)._

So no. Felicity can’t have Oliver like that. But at least she will have him in her life. He isn’t a monster who would forget about her after all of this but it would be the same. When he gets back together she can’t go back to being the invisible girl in class. No. She will be the fool that got between the world’s best couple.

 

But maybe it was for the better, when all of this was figured out and her live returned to “normal” at least she could focus on her studies. Get that scholarship to MIT. _If only I could put “temporary co-CEO of Queen Consolidated and full time badass hacker”_ _on my application. Then I would get a scholarship._

Hearing snores from the Roberts desk, she is pulled out of her pity party. As she sees, once again the boy who had the weight of the world on her shoulders, she realizes that despite the fall out, helping Oliver will be worth it. Even when Felicity becomes the high school geek with the scarlet letter on her chest, she can have pride in what she did. Because she helped someone who was drowning. She can reminisce on the past few weeks and by happy about it.

 

Because now she has hope that she can find the type of connection she has with Oliver with someone else. She had always been so dejected by the men that Donna brought home. But now, she knows there is something more. Something worthwhile. A connection where two people can sit comfortably in perfect silence. One where emotions are displayed in the other persons eyes. And one where perfect understanding exists with just a look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked it! I know you some of you are eagerly awaiting the confrontation with isabelle (next chapter!) and for them to actually talk about their feelings. It will all come in due time! 
> 
> As I am sure most of you are tired of hearing by now, this is my first story so I really appreciate any comments or feedback you have for me!


	8. Tonight it ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to take down Isabitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episode 4x16 spoiler (in the next paragraph only, not the chapter). 
> 
> Olicity has totally wrecked me this last episode. Seeing the wedding, hearing the vows, hearing felicity talk to Cupid and then her leaving the team. I just picture Oliver looking around the apartment now and realizing how bare and empty it is. Every hint of color, every decoration (that wasn't Thea's) is gone. And once you have color like that in your live (both literally in the decorations and figuratively in Felicitys presence) is gone. For it to be taken away from him after a season and a half of him learning he can have everything. That he can be the arrow and be with her, well it just rips my soul apart. So in my desperate need to return to a world where olicity still gives me the good kind of feels, I have posted this chapter. Its not pure Olicity that you have been hoping for (thats next chapter), but they are still them. I'll just be sitting in the corner mourning my OTP since 5 episodes are left in this season and I think the writers will continue this angst and keep them apart at least until next season. Can my soul take another hiatus? Who knows but maybe I will come up with another story to write! 
> 
>  
> 
> I had parts that I really couldnt get right no matter how much I tried. I know its a big chapter so I apologize for the parts that dont seem up to par with some of the other chapters. I guess this might have been where a beta would have helped me, but whatever. I hope you guys enjoy.
> 
> Also I know nothing of technology, so hopefully what I said is realistic and makes sense.

When Friday came, both Oliver and Felicity were nervous. Although they had gone over the plan to take down Isabelle close to 100 times, neither one wanted to admit that actually carrying through with it would be a different story.

Oliver and Felicity left directly from school to get to the hotel. As the she-devil was expecting to be meeting with Robert at 6pm, it was crucial that they arrived before her. They needed to catch her off guard for the plan to work.

No matter how much they had planned, they knew that it still might not work. Yes, the fact that they suspected that bitch-a-bell wasn’t actually pregnant helped, but they didn’t have conclusive proof. She had kept up the act well when she was in Russia, regularly entering doctors offices, buying neonatal vitamins, the works, so it was possible that somehow, she had beaten the odds. That she was actually pregnant. So their plan to call her bluff could totally back fire on not only them, but the Queen family, and Queen Consolidated. 

So to say that, as they stood waiting for the elevator for the penthouse to come down to retrieve them, at the spot where they first spoke and discovered whatever connection they had, that they were nervous was a monumental understatement. 

As they entered the penthouse they made their way over to the large grey couch in the living room. Isabelle wasn’t supposed to arrive for another hour and although they could have done some QC work during the meantime, the anxiety each person in the room was experiencing was paralyzing. Neither one of them had to talk to realize trying to work would be useless and unproductive.

Despite originally sitting a couple feet away from each other, at some point during the last 20 minutes the two bodies had gravitated towards each other. Now they were sitting side by side. Oliver’s arm was slung across the back of the couch hovering above Felicity’s shoulder. The crease of his arm was inches away from the back of her head and he could even feel a few loose strands that had escaped from her pony tail rubbing up against his skin. In any other situation, the proximity of their bodies, the intimacy of the moment would have sent electric pulses up and down Oliver’s body. But right now his body was having a different reaction. Instead of sending his heartbeat into overdrive, it was assuaging his nerves. Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver perceived a similar reaction by his female counterpart. Only minutes ago he had noticed her taking shallow breaths, and her knee  bouncing up and down like a jackhammer. Now, she was taking deeper breaths, her knee still. 

The presence of the other seemingly placating the others anxiety.

* * *

 

When the comm buzzed to alert Isabelle’s arrival, Felicity went into the bedroom. After a heated discussion the night before, Oliver had convinced Felicity that it was best to keep her out of the crosshairs if possible. Originally, Felicity had no intention of letting Oliver face Isabelle alone, but when she saw the pleading look in his eyes she acquiesced.

When the ice queen from Russia entered the room Oliver rose from the couch. He didn't have to observe the woman closely to detect the shock and confusion on the her face.

After a moment of silence, Isabelle recovered and her monotoned, cold voice emerged, “Where’s Robert?”

“Oh you know him. Drunk off his ass somewhere,” Oliver responds trying his best to replicate the woman’s emotionless tone, “Not much has changed since you left.”

As Felicity watches on, hidden from view from Isabelle but within sight of Oliver, she is surprised at his tone. His voice belied the feelings of anxiety and doubt of their plan.

“I don’t understand. The company, it has been running so well.”

 _Psh. Yeah no thanks to Robert_ Felicity notes.

 Oliver just shrugs at Isabitch allowing her to process the information and come to her own conclusions.

 “Whatever, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just glad he accepted my terms. Besides, it’s good that the company is doing so well. It will make my job as VP easier anyway” The brunette tosses out.

“Oh. You aren’t actually being promoted, that was just a way to get you here.” Oliver replies.

With an evil laugh that Felicity thought only existed in movies, the woman counters “Oh you silly boy. Don’t you remember? I have all the dirt on your father. When I release the images of the sonogram and the pictures of the affair, I will destroy his life. You can say goodbye to the silver spoon you have always been fed with because QC will become ruins”

Oliver and Felicity had practiced this moment hundreds of times. They had planned for her to threaten him. But despite all of their practice, Oliver still got tripped up. Understandably of course, because if their bluff didn't work, it was his life at stake. As Felicity watched Oliver struggle to gain his composure she stepped out from the room. She knew that Oliver might be mad at her later for doing so, but doing nothing would result in his life being destroyed.

The least Felicity could do was to continue on with the course of action they had planned as Oliver tried to recover. Felicity took one big breath before finally speaking, knowing that this was a time she could absolutely not babble. Not if it risked harming Oliver.

“You’re not going to release those pictures,” Felicity stated as both Isabelle and Oliver detect her presence and look towards her.

 “Oh yeah? Who is going to stop me? You?” The brunette objects

“No, not me. The fact that you are lying about your pregnancy is going to stop you. We know you aren’t pregnant. We know you can’t get pregnant. So obviously those sonograms aren’t yours. I have to say, it was impressive, they are real photos, and they are the right number of weeks given the timing of your affair with Robert, it was a brilliant plan really, except for the fact that you’re a cold hearted bitched who would never risk a child getting in the way of money and power.” Felicity breathes pausing her tirade.

Isabelle failed to hide the micro expression of shock on her face. Clearly, she had not expected anyone to discover her secret surgery. “Clever girl. Yet you forget that I still have pictures of the affair to release”

Smiling as the first half of their bluff had worked flawlessly, Felicity continued, “You know, I was hoping you would bring that up because that IS the part where I come in to play. Where I am the one who will take you down. You see, the moment you opened that email from Robert- well actually from me- a virus was uploaded onto your computer. It was coded with an algorithm that back searched every picture of you and Robert. Once it located said pictures, it deleted the pictures from the hard drive. You might have some hard copies but those can easily be “invalidated” and without digital proof, your photos are only hearsay. And Robert is an adored member of the public so who would think he cheated with someone like you? Its also lucky that you don't trust anyone and are too independent to rely on others, so you also didn't give any of this information to anyone else as a back up plan. But because you seem to be an intelligent woman, who would figure out a back up plan for yourself, I knew you would put the pictures on a flashdrive. One that you probably keep on your person at all times.  Well, lucky for me- well for Robert and QC- I am pretty intelligent too. I could explain all the techno mumbo jump, but you wont be able to understand it, so let me just say that your flashdrive has its own Internet connection. Normally this internet connection is off, which is why most people don't even know that Flashdrives have internet connections, but I activated it wirelessly. My algorithm also is able to backtrack any devices that were uploaded with the pictures as well, so once the internet connection was activated, the virus also infested your flashdrive as well. Essentially, all digital proof of the pictures are completely gone…If you don’t believe me then you can check for yourself. Go ahead look at your computer and search for the files, plug the flashdrive in if you still think I'm lying, it will all be gone”

After stoping, Felicity took a moment to glance at Oliver, because this was the moment. This was the moment that would determine everything. The first part of their bluff had worked. Isabelle had admitted to faking the pregnancy. Now they needed the second bluff to pay off. True, Felicity _had_ been able to send the virus to the computer through Robert's email. What Felicity  _hadn’t_ been able to do, what no one could do without an internet connection -which doesn’t actually exist in flashdrives- was delete the files of the flashdrive. So Oliver and Felicity had hoped that Isabelle would react with fear and not think her actions and do exactly as Felicity had told her to do. The prayed that the Ice Queen would plug the flashdrive into the computer, which then would erase the files. Isabelle's email was infected so any device synched up to her email would then become infected as well. So once the flashdrive synced up to the computer, all the files on the flashdrive would, in front of Isabelle’s eyes, disappear. 

So when the older women reached into her purse and grabbed a tube of lipstick, their posture tightened. But as the woman revealed a hidden flashdrive  plugged it into her ipad, their eyes widened at each other. Isabelle thought she was smarter than then by using an iPad rather than her computer, but it didn't matter, The plan should still work.

  _Jesus. This just might work._ Both teenagers thought.

Felicity and Oliver heard a chuckle on the other side of the room as Isabelle opened the drive on her ipad and saw the photos still present. Then they heard the yell, the indication that their plan had worked. That the photos erased right in front of her eyes. The screech that erupted from the woman’s mouth came as the sweet sound of success.

“You Bitch!” the brunette screamed as stormed towards Felicity, Felicity drew back only to have Oliver’s strong and imposing body stepp in front of her. 

“Your scheme is up Isabelle. When you go back to Russia you will turn in a letter of resignation. If you don’t, the company lawyer will sue you for blackmail and slander. Thanks to you, I now posses a recording of you admitting to faking a pregnancy with my father to attain a promotion. You saw what Felicity did with the virus, it wouldn't be hard for her to edit out the parts about the affair being real. You will never return to starling again. You almost destroyed my family once, you will not do it again. Goodbye Isabelle.”

Without looking, Oliver reached behind him and grabbed Felicity’s hand. As they made their way to the elevator, Isabelle remained frozen in place, searching for a way to better the two teenagers. As the elevator doors closed, both Oliver and Felicity let out breathes that they had been holding in since this afternoon. As both of them tilted their heads back and looked to the ceiling, all the anxiety and stress of the past few weeks began to easy out of them. They had won.

With Isabelle crossed off their list, the only had 2 more things to figure out. The first was Robert’s role at QC. The second was them.

Neither one realized that still hadn’t let go of the other’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and feedback are much appreciated! I can't tell you how much your support means to me and this story.
> 
> Next up: They finally talk about this kiss :)


	9. You've opened up my heart in a way I didn't even know was possible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally talk about the kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I am blown away by your response to the last chapter. I wasn't totally happy with it but you guys showed so much support for it anyway!
> 
> So, this was probably my favorite chapter to write. I hope you love it all as much as I do.

When the elevator returned back to the first floor, Oliver and Felicity exited and walked to the parking lot. Whether either individual was aware that their hands only broke apart as Oliver rounded the car to the driver's seat, neither gave any indication.    
  
They had talked previously about what would happen if their plan had actually worked, but never in extensive detail. Oliver hoped that with the Isabelle issue off the table that Robert would get his stuff together again. That he would stop drinking and get back to work. It might be idealistic, but he also hoped that this was a wake up call and that Robert would change his life style choices and stop cheating on his mother.   
  
However, whether Robert actually changed or not, both Oliver and Felicity knew that it wouldn't happen overnight. At the very least Robert was well past drunk for the day, so they still need to go to the office to prepare stuff for next week. Oliver could then try and talk to his father tomorrow, before Robert started his drinking escapades for the day.  

Despite having one less problem to worry about, the pair of teenagers knew that it was still going to be a long night at QC. So, they stopped to pick up some dinner on the way at Big Belly Burger as to make dinner one less thing to worry about later that night. Oliver called the order in on the drive over, without having to ask Felicity what she wanted to order. For a moment, Felicity was upset that Oliver didn't ask what she wanted, but as her order left his lips she smiled. He didn't ask because he knew what it was. It didn't matter that the last time they had order from there was over a week ago, he had it memorized. She turned her head to the window in an attempt to conceal the blush that was creeping up her face.Only once Oliver jumped out of the card to run inside to grab their food and pay for their order, was she able to finally get a control over her emotions. 

At first when they arrive in the office, it seemed like any other night. They sat in comfortable silence. Yet, as time passed, something shifted. There wasn't any singular moment that caused the shift, but somehow both Oliver and Felicity felt the change in the air. What was previously an easy silence, quickly became uncomfortable. They both had realized, that as this adventure was coming to end, one elephant in the room was still being avoided.   
  
The silence was now being filled with unspoken words. 

* * *

Oliver's POV

Oliver was having a hard time with the silence. At first he was managing because he had avoided thinking about the kiss, but as he saw her finish biting the first outer layer of her burger, his emotions were brought to the forefront of his thoughts. Unable to temper his ardent thoughts from bouncing around his head, he began shifting in his seat. He knew he had to be the one to bring it up, he knew that if he didn't that they would never end up talking about it. Taking one deep breath to calm his nerves he finally spoke up.   
  
"Felicity, I think it's time we talk about that kiss" he lets out. The moment the words leave his lips, he notices her whole body tense up. 

"Oliver, really we don't. Like I said, it was a moment filled with a plethora of emotions. Don't get me wrong it was wonderful, I mean you a very good at that, but it was a mistake." She returns, never looking up at him from the papers she was working on. 

  
"No Felicity, it wasn't"

Felicity sighs, finally looking up at him, "Oliver, don't you see? It is happening all over again. You are confusing the emotions of this moment, the night we put Isabelle's issues to rest, with your emotions about me"

Unable to control the adrenaline seeping from his body, Oliver stands up and chuckles quietly to himself. Seeing that she is still looking at him he retorts, "No. I am not"

All of the sudden Oliver gets the urge to once again walk over to her and passionately kiss her. Thinking back to how poorly that worked last time he knows he can't do that again. But if he keeps looking at her he also knows that his mind won't have any say in the matter because his body will take over. So instead, he turns around to face the glass. As he watches over the city at night, he thinks about the words that he has carefully planned out. He finally had the strength to release them, but he knows that they can't even begin to properly explain how he feels. They touch on it sure, but not enough. So instead he throws them into his mind's trash bin and instead improvises.

"Felicity, I can promise you that that kiss wasn't just an emotion filled moment. So please don't say that kiss was a mistake, because I know in my heart it wasn't. I know that because that wasn't the only time I have wanted to kiss you. Whenever I see you I want to kiss you. I developed these feelings for you so quickly and they hit me like a mac truck that day in the car when I told you about Tommy's dare and when you told me about your father. But I am so glad I realized how I felt because Felicity, you're completely amazing. You are the only one who saw me struggling. You saw what Tommy, Laurel, Thea and even my own mother didn't. And on top of knowing me instantly so intimately, you decided to help me. Your wonderful loving heart, took my stress, my problems and made them yours.” As passionate emotions overtook his body he paused for the briefest moment to take a breath. He needed his voice to be strong and convincing, he couldn't risk any quivering.

Gaining control back over his emotions he continued, “I can't even begin to describe how amazing you are. Everything about you is amazing.  And I know you probably don't believe me, but everything you do surrounds me. You have no idea how you affect me. I notice everything about you. I love that the first indicator that you are feeling hot, is that the tips of your ears start to turn bright red, but a different color that the red from when your face blushes. I love that you eat certain types of food, like that burger in front of you, in a circle. You eat all around the outside and spiral your way into the middle, savoring the best part for last. I love how, when you bring a change of clothes that you only bring a pair of sweatpants. I mean, for the most part it makes absolutely no sense what so ever, except for when you sit at a desk and your legs are underneath and no one would be able to tell that you are wearing comfort clothes. I love how in the final minutes before you solve a problem, you scrunch your eyebrows together but when you put the final pieces together your face completely relaxes. I love how I don't even have to look at you to know that you are scrunching your nose and eyebrows together like that right now as I am talking because you are still a little confused. And finally, I love that you have managed to make me, Oliver Jonas Queen a man who had never babbled in his life until you came along, babble about all the little things that make you amazing. That makes you beautiful."   
  
Oliver finally lets out a breath.  Despite everything he knows about her, and how well he thinks he knows her, he can't predict how she is going to react to his speech. So he turns around slowly, because he knows that when he comes face to face with her reaction, whether good or bad, it will change everything. 

* * *

Felicity's POV

The silence in the room was eerie. Normally when they work silently together it is in comfort, but right now it is awkward. Felicity desperately wanted to break the silence, but couldn't find the courage to do so. The only thing left for them to talk about was that kiss. That amazing, soul uplifting kiss. The kiss that turned her world upside down but put it right side up all at once. But she can't. She can't be the one to bring it up so she turns her attention back to the documents in front of her. She hears Oliver shuffle around clearly showing that he feels the same sense of discomfort as her. As she begins to read the same paragraph for what is probably the 8th time, Oliver speaks.   
  
"Felicity, I think it's time we talk about that kiss"

 _Crap._  
  
"Oliver, really we don't. Like I said, it was a moment filled with a plethora of emotions. Don't get me wrong it was wonderful, I mean you a very good at that, but it was a mistake _."_  
  
"No Felicity, it wasn't"

_God. He doesn't even realize that its happening again._

"Oliver, don't you see? It is happening all over again. You are confusing the emotions of this moment, the night we put Isabelle's issues to rest, with your emotions about me"

He didn’t answer immediately, but she thought she heard him chuckle, but she couldn’t be sure. _How can he be laughing about this?_

"No. I am not" he responds as he stands up and walks over to the window. She knows he is about to continue, so she keeps silent. She had no idea what he is about to say, but  listens closely. 

He begins by once again arguing with her, saying the kiss wasn't just a moment. And as much as she wants to believe him, she isn’t convinced. He talks about the feelings he has had since the drive to QC after Jitters, and she starts to listen more carefully. She didn’t realize it until he said it, but that is also when she would pinpoint her feelings towards him shifting into something more than friendship. As he talks about how she saved him when no one else did, doubt begins to creep up in her mind again.

 _Maybe this is like a reverse white knight complex? Well maybe not reverse, just a less sexist more gender equal version where the white knight is a woman!_   

Then he paused. At first Felicity thought he was finished speaking, but quickly realized she was wrong. He just needed to catch his breath. _It was the longest time he had spoken to her without interruption other than when he was talking about Tommy’s dare_ , she thought smiling to herself.

 “I can't even begin to describe how amazing you are. Everything about you is amazing.  And I know you probably don't believe me”

_You got that right!_

_“_ …but everything you do surrounds me. You have no idea how you affect me. I notice everything about you.”

 _Oh yeah? Like what Oliver,_ she challenges him in her mind.

“I love that the first indicator that you are feeling hot, is that the tips of your ears start to turn bright red-but its a different color that the red from when your face blushes."

_He could be making that up._

_“_ I love that you eat certain types of food, like that burger in front of you, in a circle. You eat all around the outside and spiral your way into the middle, savoring the best part for last."

 _Okay so he noticed one thing,_ she admitted she scrunched her nose and slide her eyebrows together, noticing how her glasses move a little further up on her nose.

 _“_ I love how, when you bring a change of clothes that you only bring a pair of sweatpants.”

_Okay. Two things. But it is weird quirk that has no explanation._

_“_ I mean, for the most part it makes absolutely no sense what so ever, except for when you sit at a desk and your legs are underneath and no one would be able to tell that your wearing comfort clothes at all."

_Oh._

"I love how in the final minutes before you solve a problem, you scrunch your eyebrows together but when you put the final pieces together your face completely relaxes. I love how I don't even have to look at you to know that you are scrunching your nose and eyebrows together like for the past couple minutes as I have been talking.

_What the heck? Can he see my reflection in the glass? No, that crazy. He is too far._

And finally, I love that you have managed to make me, Oliver Jonas Queen a man who has never babbled in his life until you came along, babble about all the little things that make you amazing, that make you beautiful."

This time when he stopped speaking she knew he was finished. She knew he was waiting for a response, but she was absolutely speechless. He knew her. He knew he completely and she couldn’t deny it anymore. He even knew her well enough to know the answer to her weird sweatpants quirk that her mother had pointed out to her once before, but that Felicity could never explain. So without a response, she did the only thing she could.

* * *

 

Her feet were moving towards him as her body surged with emotion. It could have been timing, or it could have been Felicity’s beautiful brain doing quick calculations, but she knew she would arrive as soon as his body turned around. 

As he turned around, lips crashed onto his. Felicity's arms wrapped around his neck, tugging him closer. Oliver reached out to wrap his own arms around her waist, pulling their bodies together. This was everything he had dreamed of, everything he had hoped for. He smiled against her lips, which granted him a soft chuckle in response. As he dipped his head further down so Felicity didn’t have to stand on her toes, her lips parted with a moan. Taking the opportunity, he slipped his tongue passed the opening and collided it with hers. After a few moments, they parted. Oliver pressed his forehead against Felicity's and looked into her eyes. The eyes that knew him better than anyone else. They eyes that saved him. 

Oliver took a breath and moved his hands from her waist up to caress each cheek. He had one more thing to ask her, “Will you go out on a date with me?” 

Moving her hands from his neck to rest on this forearms, the ends of Felicity's lips ticked up, creating a wickedly beautiful smirk, “Hummm. Sounds like a great offer Oliver, but I don’t think you’re my type” she playfully responded, as she pushed up to her tiptoes to kiss him again.

At that moment, knew that his "happy mask", his "happy facade" was no longer needed. With her in his life, he no longer needed to pretend.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is an epilogue left, but for the first time, I am posting a chapter without at least part of the next chapter already written. So it might take longer than usual. But I have a feeling you guys wont mind because you were really just wanting this chapter to happen and care less about the epilogue. 
> 
> On a different note. I think I the beginnings of a new original Olicity AU (college) running around in my mind. You guys have inspired me to write more and I have found it also to be a relaxing hobby. I don't know when I will post it (maybe a few weeks) because its only in my head currently, but if anyone wants to be a beta for it, it would be interesting to see how a beta could influence my writing process or stories.
> 
> Thanks again for your support so far! As always comments, feedback and kudos are always encouraging!


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank all of you so much! As I have said numerous times, I would not consider myself a writer by any stretch of the imagination. But with your support, I have discovered that I rather enjoy writing these stories down and sharing them with other fans. 
> 
>  
> 
> You guys have all inspired me to try and write a second story. I have the start of it worked out but want to know where the whole story is going before I post anything. But to give you a little preview of what I have so far. It is going to be a college AU. It deals with a coffee shop open mic night, Felicity dazzling Oliver. Felicity rejecting his advances, but not because of his reputation, but rather first hand knowledge (not experience) of his antics.

The next morning Oliver spoke to his father. Robert thanked him for being the man to take control over the situation and told Oliver that he has high hopes for him following in his footsteps, professionally speaking, and eventually becoming CEO of QC. While at first Oliver had never saw himself as CEO, working with Felicity on QC business, Oliver could now envision this as a potential future. found that he rather enjoyed it. So he began to shadow his father more. Robert held true to his promise that morning as he as began to live up to Starling’s expectations. Robert became the family man everyone thought he was and was leading QC in a new and prosperous direction.

 *

The night after their second kiss, Oliver and Felicity went on their first date. While Oliver had considered taking Felicity to some expensive restaurant like he always did with Laurel, he eventually decided against it. He wanted his date with Felicity to be special, different than anything he had done for anyone else. So instead of a reservation at Table Salt, he took her somewhere more meaningful.

When he picked her up, Oliver still hadn't told Felicity where they were going but to dress in whatever she felt comfortable in. He knew that it didn't matter what she wore, she would still look beautiful. When they stopped in front of Jitters, Felicity flashed a smile at him. When she reaches to open the car handle, Oliver stopped her and told her to wait in the car. As soon as he went inside, he was back out again, with their drinks and her guilty pleasure dessert of chocolate croissants. The next stop was Big Belly Burger, before reaching for the door this time Felicity looked at Oliver and saw that she was once again suppose to wait for him in the car as he got the food. When Oliver returned from dinner, Felicity knew that with drinks, dinner and dessert that whatever the next stop was it was likely their final destination. 

When they pulled up in front of QC Felicity giggled. Oliver had taken them on a little journey of all the places that frequented the past couple weeks as they were falling in love. When they got in the elevator, Felicity was surprised that Oliver didn't push the button for Roberts office, but instead the button "R". As the elevator hiked up, Felicity realized "R" meant roof. As the door elevator opened and Oliver walked over to open the door that lead out to the roof, Felicity's jaw dropped. The view from Robert's office of the city was superb, but this view was unparalleled. Then she saw the little table set up for them to have dinner at while they watched over the beautiful city they called home. During dinner, they fell into easy conversation as they always had. They learned more about each other, and finally had time to explore their connection without the threat of Isabelle or QC over their heads. 

It was the perfect date. 

 *

Meeting the families had been a particularly memorable experience for both of them. To nobody’s surprise Moira had not been very welcoming of the blonde. Moira was convinced that Laurel was the one for Oliver and was in denial of any other woman in Oliver’s life. After a week or two of Moira's petulant behavior,  Oliver finally confronted his mother and told her that forcing him and Laurel together would only led to the same unhappy marriage that she and Robert tried to hide from the public. Soon after that Moira finally opened her heart to Felicity and fell for the babbling blonde as quickly as Oliver had.

Robert, while not cold, was not particularly warm either. He had still not recovered from the blow to his pride that two teenagers had set his life and company right again after his indiscretions. However, when Robert finally realized that instead of keeping Felicity at an arms length he should be thanking her, he welcomed Felicity into their home with open arms. He saw the love in Oliver's eyes when he talked about her or looked at her and saw what every father dreamed of, his son hopelessly and completely in love. 

To put it simply, Thea adored Felicity immediately. Having never really liked Laurel, having Thea's approval of Felicity meant the world to him. Thea loved Felicity’s bubbly personality and they found in each other the sister they never had, but always wanted. It warmed Oliver’s heart how quickly they became friends, but feared the future when the women in his life would gang up to outnumber him.

Felicity did her best to delay the meeting between Oliver Queen and Donna Smoak for as long as possible, but only keeping them separate only lasted a couple weeks. Oliver was determined to meet the woman that raised the girl he was in love with. Felicity knew that as soon as she introduced Oliver and Donna finally found out that “her Oliver” was actually Oliver Queen, that Donna would freak out. Sure enough, when it finally happened Donna fell into “Vegas mode” and fawned over the man Felicity had brought home. Thankfully, "Vegas Mode" only lasted a couple of minutes and it was more about the attractive and muscular aspects of Oliver than his name or wealth. Felicity smiles the real Donna emerged as she also fell into easy conversation with Oliver, asking about his interests, hopes and aspirations. 

 *

When graduation came, everything had fallen right into place. Felicity was graduating with high honors two years early at the tender age of 16 (her birthday was a month before graduation and Oliver had bought her the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen). Despite having the highest GPA of the graduating class and technically being valedictorian, Felicity offered that the senior with the highest GPA gave the graduation speech. Felicity knew that Ronnie would give a more meaningful speech, as he had spent more time with his fellow gradates and could give it a more personal touch. Ronnie was also the friendly guy that everyone knew and liked. He had more connections to different cliques within the graduating class as a member of the football team, a honors student and president of the robotics club and SGA. Despite all the hardships that Oliver had to face that year, he was also graduating with merit. With the influence of Felicity, Oliver’s academics went from slightly above average to above average, earning him honors as well.

As they arrived at the football field, Felicity had a surprise for Oliver. Due to a "little computer error” in the alphabetically arranged seating chart, Oliver and Felicity were sitting next to each other at graduation. It seems that the computer believed that Smoak actually came after Queen but before the 20 names that actually separated Queen from Smoak. Since they already received their official diplomas on the last day of school and would only be handed blank pieces of paper for show during the ceremony, nobody seemed to care about the little error.

 *

Summer came and went quickly. Felicity interned at QC in the Applied Sciences Division, as a thank you from Robert. During her internship, Felicity saw numerous proposals that she had approved during her late night adventures as co-CEO become reality. Oliver shadowed his father at QC as well. Even though he was forced into the role of CEO during the winter when his father became absent and drunk, he found that he rather enjoyed the work he had done with Felicity by his side. He also realized that he was rather good at it. Often times, Oliver imagined what life would be like 5 or 10 years down the road, and what he pictured  looked eerily similar to the nights when they fell in love at QC, except that he was officially CEO and she was the Director of the Applied Sciences Division. He knew Felicity wasn't ready to hear about this imagined future so he kept it to himself.

When summer ended, Oliver and Felicity packed their rooms and moved across the country. Maintaining their strong relationship was easy, despite the big life changes of attending college. With Felicity attending MIT and Oliver attending Harvard, they remained as close as ever, both figuratively and literally, as their schools were 1.2 miles from each other and their dorms of .7 miles from each other. They could lean on each other when things got complicated.

One night while studying for finals, Oliver looked over at Felicity and smiled. He had known that she was the woman he was going to marry for a while now, but every day he spent with her, that future was become closer to reality. He could tell that she was just as happy as he was. Every day he is thankful for whatever force brought them together because she changed his world, his life. With her in his life, he is happy. And as long as she stayed in his life, he would remain happy. So when he saw her sitting there, perfectly content, he smiled. He smiled because he couldn't imagine his life without her, and he couldn't imagine anything happening in his life that would tear them apart.

 

Because if they could survive co-running a fortune 500 company for multiple weeks in the secret of the night at the tender ages of 15 and 18, what couldn’t they survive?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for all of your support! If anyone has any interest in beta-ing my next story, or even just talking through some potential plot lines, just message me!


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